Thanks David for this interesting story. For what I’m concerned I’m happy with my 1963 old version of the game. I may consider buying new ones for gift, but it seems to me the rights that are talked about in the article are only for the USA ? So will the new version of the game be available only in the USA ?

And congratulations for your clean sheet in the current championship !

I was struck by the work that Mr Dolezal made about the rights and permissions of publishing Twixt. It is not so easy to disentangle among them. During my talks with editors and with the official agent of Alex Randolph’s games, I felt that they were not convinced of publishing again Twixt, and this can be the answer to the fact that the last European edition was the Kosmos one (1998). Thus, I am happy that a guy firmly believes in Twixt, and decided to publish it again, even if he is not a relative of Alex Randolph.

If I will buy it? Well, I have 2 copies of the Klee editions, 2 copies of the Kosmos edition (I had 3 of them, but I gave one to Florian last year in London), and one homemade paper board with the guidelines that I used to study the openings with pegs, counters and barriers. However, I can buy it, if it will be cheap (or at least not too expensive).

I see a difficulty, at least for Europe. There is a guild of author of games in Germany (SAZ), that sometimes emits “ethic” sentences about what they think to be the “correct” application of the rules. They are powerful, at least in Germany, and their sentences are able to orientate the buyers (see for example, the 3/2017 Spielbox issue, page 1. I agree with the author about an excess of zeal by the SAZ). I am afraid that the action of Mr Dolezal will not be well judged by them.

If you want my opinion, I stay with Mr Dolezal and his initiative, because I believe that it is impossible that we have to wait for almost two decades to obtain a new edition of a great game like Twixt (2017-1998).

""While that union of gamers is very powerful, they cannot ban the game from appearing on amazon.de, at which case anyone from the EU can purchase the product. Ideally, it would be great if small shops could sell TwixT but they really have no control over simply selling the game in the EU"

I’m french retailer and i’m trying to find an editor in my relationships a long time ago.

So, i think it will be a great news.

I’m not sure to buy a new copy, it depends on components and price, but, clearly, i will play the game in my shop and i will try to organize tournament and demo games to explain the games at the maximum of people.

Ed, the story is rather complicated. I don’t find mention of Twixt on Kickstarter. I don’t even see a Lil Cerebral website. After all that work to procure the license and to make business arrangements, it seems Mr. Dolezal could not quite put it all together.

Part of the problem may have been his conflict with Michael Katz and others, as detailed in the boardgamegeek Twixt discussions linked above. Dolezal may have the right to publish under US laws, but not necessarily under European laws. He agreed to a transfer of rights to Katz, who is Alex Randolph’s nephew, If sales ever drop below a set point. But then he reneged on that agreement. That’s when he lost my support as well.

Another reason may have to do with the rules sheet, or booklet, or whatever it was going to be. Wayne was adamant that the rules should be understandable by a 12 year old. Indeed they could be, but not if he wrote them. He once sent me a rules file that he created. To put it kindly, it was a bit rough.

If Wayne should change his mind and return to the agreement he made to transfer rights to Michael when sales drop, I would be willing to help him. But I’m not much interested in trying to persuade him. He emailed me not long ago, asking for my help and defending his choice to hold on to publishing rights. I did not respond. I also noticed that he posted in one of the BGG Twixt threads, but before I could read it, he apparently deleted his own post.

To answer your question, Ed, the set looks much like existing sets. It uses the same shape and size board and pieces. The board is white and the pieces are red and blue. The box is more compact. Each pieces box is wide and flat and fits inside a “sandwich” of two quadrants. The quadrants fit together to make a board without needing clips.

I received some images from Wayne, which have not yet been approved for the BGG Twixt gallery, but they are the three most recent images in my personal gallery. Here are some quotes from him.

Hi David,

Well here’s a status of sorts. Every time I think “well only 4 more weeks”, something else happens or I want to make an improvement to something. You’re right, it’s not on Kickstarter yet. I just completely underestimated how long things take to get it just right. There’s kind of 2 versions, really the only thing different is the packaging, and how the pieces are housed. I have several different styles im trying to figure out but attached is couple of them(I think the pine one is too light. The darker one looks classy but there’s some I don’t have pics handy on my phone. I should probably put a handle on it). That version comes with tin compartments for the pieces (think 4 separate altoid tins). The other version is just in a retail box, as you might expect. The instructions have now been hopefully effectively play-tested with dozens of 10 year olds, as you know that is what is important for me. But I’ll let you know a little closer to launch. I’d hate to set another date expectation and miss it...

Wayne

(I asked for permission to upload the images and to quote him.)

David,

First off thank you so much for asking. I have absolutely absolved you from any disclosure, so thank you.

My only issue with you posting is that i dont know yet which will be “the box”. I will be receiving 5 different boxes by the end of the week, each of them a different style. I would obviously welcome your opinion. Or even the community’s opinion?

So you know...There’s two versions of TwixT that will be available. And you’re right... these wooden boxes ARE expensive...

$29 gets you a brand new twixt in a retail box with free shipping in the USA. Theres a kickstarter goal of 5,000 units which would automatically upgrade the box to a book box, complete with a magnetic enclosure. Those that want a premium edition (wooden box), would pay $45, because you’re right...it is expensive. The $45 tier would also include the upgraded piece housing in 4 tin boxes.

Im torn right now with how to handle the community. I want to not be the bad guy.